In any business, time is money. However, in some businesses, the sheer size of the material and equipment, and concerns for safety, require jobs to move slowly. An example of such a business is drilling in an oil field. Wells are drilled miles into the ground. Drill steel used to drill these wells is from 2⅞ to 8 inches in diameter and about 40 feet long. One end of a piece of drill steel has exterior threads which are accepted by the internal threads on the other end of a like piece. These delicate threads are often damaged during the drilling process and are repaired by re-threading them with a lathe. Currently, it takes a crane and 3-4 men to position each piece of drill steel into a lathe for repair. The process of positioning the first end of the piece into the lathe, removing it, turning it, and positioning the second end of the piece into the lathe takes about 40 minutes. Reducing the time and manpower needed to complete this process would lessen its cost.
A need remains for a process or apparatus to handle drill steel that is automated, requires fewer workers, and takes less time.
All patents, patent applications, provisional patent applications and publications referred to or cited herein, are incorporated by reference in their entirety to the extent they are not inconsistent with the teachings of the specification.